


Making Family

by Mag7FandF_FanGirl (RannaFic)



Series: Adjustments and Accomodations [2]
Category: Fast & Furious 6 (2013), The Fast and the Furious (2001), The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, M/M, Magnificent Seven AU: ATF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-28
Updated: 2012-07-28
Packaged: 2017-11-10 21:10:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/470727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RannaFic/pseuds/Mag7FandF_FanGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dangerous criminal from Dom's past causes trouble and precipitates Mia dealing with the relationship between him and Ezra</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Taken

Ezra could NOT be late for this meeting, but he was hitting every light and there was so much traffic he could not believe it. The way things were going he would not just be late, but late enough that the appointment would be canceled. Why now, of all days? Mia was going to be seriously annoyed with him if he was late. If the appointment was cancelled, well not only would Mia be upset but even Dom and Brian would be annoyed, because there would be no way to make another appointment before the wedding, and Mia had her heart set on one of these super chic wedding dresses. Even worse they had set the appointment up weeks before and Mia had boasted about it to what felt like everyone she met. Ezra did not want to be put in the position of not just disappointing but also embarrassing Mia just when their relationship was improving. "Oh Gawd not another red light." It was ironic really, he was driving Dom's car anticipating that it would speed things up, but he might as well have been driving Josiah's half dead clunker for all the good the sports car did. He devoutly wished he could have postponed the meet to another day, or moved the time, but Stevenson was notorious for being inflexible and the team had been chasing the guy for months. Then wrapping up had taken forever because one of the perps had taken off, and Ezra and JD had to chase him down. Chris had nearly demanded he stay to do paperwork, even though he knew about the dress appointment, but Buck had said they could not keep a lady waiting and waved him off. Finally! He breathed a sigh of relief. He was past the traffic and within 5 blocks of the place. Then, unbelievably, it looked as though there was an accident at the light in front of him. He wondered how mad Dom would be if he left the car and ran, particularly given that he had left without waiting for any of his teammates. The plan had been for JD to come with him, but someone had to file the report on the almost escape, and the others point blank refused to go wedding dress shopping. He had the feeling that Dom might be annoyed about the fact that he had left unescorted but he was a trained federal agent and fully capable of taking care of himself. He parked and got out of the car with a sigh, there was no choice but to try and make it on foot, they were already 5 minutes past the appointment start time. There was a crowd forming around the accident scene and he started to push through. Suddenly he felt a prick on his arm, he looked around to see someone withdrawing a needle. "What is your purpose in assaulting my person?" He tried to back away, but he had started to feel dizzy instantly. He could feel strong arms around him "Hey buddy are you OK?" Then he fell into blackness. 

"We're going to miss the appointment, and we'll never get another one in time! I really thought Ray cared about me as well, but I guess Dom is the only one in this family that matters to him." Mia was very upset. Brian knew she did not mean it, but he hoped Ezra was nowhere nearby to hear. Ezra tended to be very sensitive, particularly in regards to his position within their family. "Mia," he said patiently, "if he he did not care about you he would not have made the appointment in the first place. Nor would he have gone with you to the florists, or found the photographer. Hell, he wouldn't have spent so much time convincing Dom to have the big fancy wedding in the first place. You know Dom did not think you needed an anniversary wedding at all." Mia ignored him and continued pacing muttering about "useless brother in laws". Which was encouraging and dismaying simultaneously, given that Ezra was not married to Dom. Just then his phone rang, what was Chris Larabee calling about? "Brian look, Ezra left late, the bust took longer than anyone thought. Nathan pointed out that these dress things are pretty rigid. Normally they would not move forward without Ezra but I am betting I can convince Fredrico to make an exception. Let's just say he knows my temper. Can you put him on the phone?" Brian handed the phone to the store manager and watched with amusement as the "Mr Larabee you have to realize ..." became "OK fine, I will handle it". Finally Fredrico turned to Mia, "Mrs O'Conner if you would come this way" Mia finally smiled and with a comment, "You send Ray right in when he comes, so I can give him a piece of my mind!" followed the designer into the back of the shop.

Brian was starting to get concerned, it had been too long since Chris called. He would have expected Ezra and JD by now. He tried Ezra's cell, but there was no answer. It was now 40 minutes past the appointment start, that just was not like Ezra. He called Chris back but instead of Chris telling him not to worry, like as Brian hoped, he was concerned. Chris also confessed that in fact JD was not with Ezra, and wouldn't Dom just love that! Ezra was not supposed to go anywhere unescorted, despite his many protestations. Finally, after another 10 minutes, he decided to go looking, led at least in part by a desire to ensure that if Ezra was not there, he would not be around Mia when the appointment was over. He knew which direction Ezra was coming from as there was really only one reasonable route to this particular shop. After perhaps 10 minutes of walking he saw Dom's car parked by the side of the road, and a form slumped over the wheel. He raced to the car without a thought and tried lifting up the man at the wheel, to his shock it was not Ezra, but someone else. Someone who was pointing a gun in his face. He froze, then heard movement behind him, as he turned he felt a blow to his head before slipping into unconsciousness.

Dom's cell rang, he glanced down and saw it was Ezra, guess the dress shopping was over. He really hoped it had gone well since Mia was incredibly stressed about it, for reasons he really could not fathom. "Hello Sunny, so how did your little shopping trip go? Please tell me it went well." The voice that answered froze Dom's blood. "No Dominic I would say, that from your perspective, it did not go well at all." Dom could not believe it, Saul was on the phone, on Ezra's phone. "If you touch him!" "You will what? Call the council? They will not touch someone as connected as I am as long as I don't kill your little boytoy. Set your ex-FBI agent brother in law on me? Well I have him too Dom, just in case your toy was a meaningless plaything. I wondered if we had the right guy at first, who dresses their toy in Armani suits, but I would say from your reaction that I scored big time. So you are going to come to the park downtown tonight and wait there till I come pick you up. You try having any of your crew or the cops or Feds follow you. I'm delivering your brother in law in pieces and I don't think I need to explain what will happen to your pretty little toy do I?" Dom wanted to threaten but he knew the less he said to Saul the better. "I will be there." Dom almost hung up but he realized Saul had said nothing about JD. Chris would want to know, hell he wanted to know about the youngest of the brother agents. "Wait Saul, what about the guy who was with Ezra?" Saul laughed, the sound grating and unpleasant. "Someone has betrayed you Dominic. There was no one with him." Dom hung up simultaneously relieved and angry that Ezra had been unescorted, if there had been someone with Ezra they would have been expendable and with Saul that likely meant dead. Chris had agreed to an escort though. They would have to have a talk about that. However the first thing he needed to do was call Mia to see if the story about Brian was true. He would not put it past Saul to lie. He was not looking forward to having to tell Mia about this. 

Mia was wondering where Brian had gone. First Ezra was late, and now Brian had disappeared, probably he had gone in search of Ezra, but it was still annoying. Her phone rang, Dom was calling, probably looking for Ezra. "Dom, Ray is still not here I think Brian has gone to look for him. I promise I will have him call you when he arrives ok?" Dom was silent for a moment and then he told her "Mia, I'm sorry but it's bad. I just got a call from Saul, he has Brian, and Sunny. I need you to call Chris and tell him what's going on. I'm going to pick you up and take you to Nathan's since Jack is there. Do NOT leave the store until I come. Last thing I need is for you to get grabbed too." Mia could not believe it, Saul was supposed to be locked up, even with his money and connections the authorities should have known better than to release someone crazy enough to harm a toy. Well if Dom had a chance to get him this time he better kill him. She was not letting him leave that lunatic out there again. "One of us should fill Chris in, I know the team will want to help you track Saul but we need to leave Nathan and probably someone like Josiah with you and Jack." She noticed Dom had made no mention of JD "Do we know what happened to JD?" She held her breath, she liked the young agent. "No one was with him. Probably a good thing since I do not think JD could handle someone like Saul." Mia knew that was going to be an unpleasant conversation for Chris somewhere along the line but right now they had more important things to think about.

Chris was finally finished at the bust location and preparing to leave when his cell rang and Mia's number came up. He wondered why she was calling. Surely Ezra had arrived by now? He answered the phone with a feeling of trepidation and then listened with growing fear as she explained that a man who had become Dom's enemy the first time he was in prison had taken Ezra and Brian. Mia was not sure how or when he had gotten out of jail but he was bad news, both crazy and smart and worse, connected with two different Mafia families. There was a long pause and then Mia explained her greatest concern, "Chris you have to do anything necessary to get Ray back from him as soon as possible. The reason Saul hates Dom is because he prevented him from raping several of the younger prisoners. Ray is ... Ray is just his type. He is crazy too. I think you understand how crazy he would have to be to threaten a toy. Make no mistake he means it too. Dom is going to take me to Nathan's can you send Josiah and Nathan to stay with us?" Chris promised he would send them over and wait for Dom's call. He knew they would have to track Dom without being visible, which meant the best technology available, which meant JD. He took a moment to be glad that JD was here where his expertise would be so badly needed. "Don't worry Mia we will get Brian back, this Saul is bound to underestimate Ezra and he will do everything in his power to keep Brian safe." Chris was not quite sure what to make of Mia's comment "That's one of the things I am worried about" before she hung up.


	2. Surrender

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is nothing really graphic. However this chapter is the reason for the non-con warning.

Dom allowed himself to be pushed into the room without protest and finally was able to see Brian and Ezra. Brian was handcuffed to a pipe on the wall of the basement and Ezra was sitting huddled at his feet. When they saw Dom Ezra shot up and ran into his waiting arms sobbing. Dom was initially worried but when he met the warning in Ezra's eyes realized he was playing the harmless toy. He went along with the ruse holding him gently. Brian kept trying to catch Dom's attention but Dom had his hands full trying to do a credible job of pretending to comfort Ezra all the while assessing the situation and whispering the information to team 7. He was pleased with Ezra's ruse since it was easy to make it look like the whispered comments were soft reassurances for Ezra. The man accompanying Dom threw him a pair of handcuffs and pointed his automatic rifle at Brian and told him to handcuff himself to the pipe on the opposite side of the room.

Once Dom was safely handcuffed the door opened and Saul came in. Ezra sank down on the floor next to him and looked between Dom and Saul, appearing nervous. Saul smiled "well Dominic now that I have your attention. I am going to teach you about the consequences of interfering. I'm even going to be nice and give you a choice." Brian immediately began shouting "Dom don't you dare let him touch Ray! You keep the hell away from him you worthless bastard! If you come near him ..." Dom felt like his heart had stopped. Was Saul going to try and make Dom choose between Ezra and Brian? His mind shied away from thinking about what kind of choice might be given. Before Dom could utter a word Ezra interrupted, "Wait!" he glanced at Dom and then away, "Look my contract says I can terminate it if I want to, so I want out of this." He turned to Dom, not meeting his eyes "I am breaking the contract because you can't protect me properly, this is the second time I have been kidnapped because of you. I did not sign up for this. I'm done." Ezra bent and removed the anklets with Dom's name with a sharp snap, tossing them to fall at Dom's feet, then he turned to Saul "OK I do not belong to him any more. Please, just let me go. I swear I will not tell anyone about you. Please, let me go." Saul looked at him and roared with laughter. "Oh that is too perfect. Your toy abandoned you because you can't give him the protection you gave all those cheap whores in prison." He addressed Ezra "Well pet I will let you go but it's only fair my man gets something first. After all the trouble he went to capturing you." Ezra backed towards the far wall. "No!" Saul grinned "Oh yes. It will hammer home perfectly to Dominic that he can't protect every little bitch that begs him, make my man real grateful, and give you a taste of what will happen if you try and turn me in. One more thing, no fighting, you will just let him take you like the pretty, little slut you are. If you don't I will shoot Brian here." Saul grinned at Dom "Did you know Dom that the first thing your little toy did when he woke up was run to your brother in laws arms. He even tried to defend him from my gentlemen. Guess he was cheating on you. Now you get to see him cheat on you again, with one of my gentlemen this time." Dom watched with disbelief he knew Ezra's capabilities in reading people well enough to figure he must have anticipated this. Why would he choose to risk himself this way? He must know that his team was on the way. However there would be no way for them to arrive in time to prevent this. Why had he pushed it? He watched Saul's bruiser put down his gun and then approach Ezra, zipping down his pants as he walked. Brian called to Ezra telling him to ignore the threat, to fight but Ezra was clearly passive refusing to endanger Brian.

"Get the fuck away from him or I will make sure your very short life is painful enough you will beg me to end it." Dom pulled on the handcuff, felt it cut into his hand and did not care. Ezra's team was hearing this. They must be killing themselves trying to get here, but they were too far away to get here in time to stop this. Both he and Chris had agreed that the team needed to be far enough away that they would be impossible to spot which had turned into a little over a mile. Team 7 would not be here for at least a couple minutes and then they would still have to get through all the rest of Saul's men. The brute was already next to Ezra and had pushed him down on the floor and was pulling down his pants. Dom heard Brian yelling too through a haze of rage. "Damn it Sunny, fight him! Don't just .." Dom suddenly cut himself off, he knew he was being unfair. With Brian's life on the line Ezra would not even try to resist, but it hurt to see him just surrender. He watched as the bastard positioned himself against Ezra's limp body and then Saul's voice commanded "Stop!". Saul smiled at Dom again, "You know Dom I think I should be the first to see what your little toy has to offer. I do need to do one small thing first, very important, but then, then you can watch me take your little ex-toy." With a smile and a wave he walked out the door. Dom watched Ezra fall back to the floor unmoving and prayed with all his heart for Chris Larabee.

Ezra did not want to move, to do anything but lie there. He knew what Dom did not, it was either him here, waiting to be raped by that bastard, or it was Brian. Worst of all Saul had boasted about making Dom choose. He knew it would break Dom permanently to be forced into a choice like that, regardless of who he picked and nothing on earth would convince him to allow that. Ezra had gotten the quick rundown from Brian on what Saul's beef with Dom was, and everything he knew about reading people told him that Saul would abandon that plan for an opportunity to make Dom lose face. He did not know if Dom could forgive him for breaking the contract, especially in such a fashion, making it look as though he thought Dom was weak, but better that, than the alternative. Now, well he had a chance. Those cretins had not searched him at all, and his suits had a few surprises, most notably a very sharp knife sewn into a inside pocket near the bottom of one of the legs. It was useless against one of Saul's men, he would sacrifice one in a heartbeat, but against Saul, well if he could grab him then he could probably force his man to disarm. He squirmed around under the cover of pulling up the pants and sitting up and was able to reach the knife. It hid just perfectly inside his hand.

Dom waited and prayed, but the next person to come through the door was Saul. He walked over to Ezra "Now you little bitch you get to see what a real man is like. I'll forgive you the modesty this time, but get those damn pants off and then bend over on the floor, hands and knees." Dom watched Ezra follow the instructions silently and for a moment wished that he had just let Saul take those boys in prison. Then he hung his head in shame. No he would not wish that, he would not let Saul win, but God this was harder than his worst nightmare. Saul poised his body over Ezra's and suddenly Ezra moved and he was behind Saul and there was a knife in his hand, pressed hard against Saul's throat. Saul's man brought his gun up but it was wavering. It took both courage and more than a small dose of insanity to point a gun towards a toy. It was pointless in any case because Ezra had made sure he was shielded by the larger man. Dom was not taking any chances, he started screaming "You kill him and it won't be me after you it will be the entire goddamn council. You want that!" The man backed towards the door, maybe he wanted to get help, maybe he was going to run. Dom would never know because the door flew open and God's own angels in the form of Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner were there. 

Normally Chris was a law abiding man, hell normally his whole team was, but listening, and watching, helpless to stop what was going on in that room had made them all a little crazy. When they had arrived at the warehouse where their little bug said Dom was they had gone in and blown away anyone who even looked like pointing a gun in their direction. Fortunately there were not a lot of people crazy enough to be involved with Saul. Four of the men had actually been smart enough to surrender and JD and Buck had stayed behind to guard them. When Chris and Vin walked into that room and saw a man pointing his weapon at Ezra, well they shot first. They watched Ezra sag in relief and push Saul away from him in disgust and Chris saw his agent, his friend, his brother standing with his pants and underwear around his ankles and put a bullet through the brain of the man responsible. He heard another shot simultaneous with his, guess Vin had had the same idea. The body sagged forward, and Chris saw that Saul had been reaching for a gun tucked into the back of his pants. He did not much care, but it would help when he told the story to Travis. Ezra swayed a little and then Vin was gathering him up in his arms. Chris went to release Dom and Brian. This had been one hell of a day and he was glad it was over.


	3. Things fall apart

Mia relaxed into Brian's arms. All the men were pretty much refusing to talk about what had happened when Saul was holding Ezra, Dom and Brian. All Mia knew was that they had visited the hospital to get dressings for Dom's wrists. She had seen cuts and bruises on Brian's face but no injuries on Ezra. They all seemed fine, laughing and joking together. She had been happy with the assurance that Saul was dead, on that subject at least there had been no reticence. Now she could sleep. Last night and tonight as well she and Brian had kept Jack in bed with them. She supposed he would go back to his own bed tomorrow night but for now Brian felt better with his family safe with him. She had noticed some sign of strain between Dom and Ezra and when she had asked Dom had said that Ezra had terminated the contract but not to worry Ezra had been using it as a ruse and they would work it out. He had not wanted to talk about it, and Ezra, well he was apparently moving in with Chris for now. He had wanted to just rent a hotel room but his team had nixed that idea and since he at least technically had no money he had acquiesced to their demands. She had given Dom space for the last couple days but tomorrow she was going to force him to tell her what all of this was about.

She felt restless and decided to get up and check her email, she was expecting a package for Jack, whose birthday was coming up, and wanted to double check the arrival date. She pulled up her mail on Brian's computer and noticed an email from an address she did not recognize. It was just titled "Information on Ray Toretto" probably spam, but why put Toretto after Ezra's name? She opened it, and felt her heart stop in its tracks. It was a short video, maybe a few seconds but it showed Ezra and another man, patently not Dom, engaged in what was unmistakably sexual activity. It was clearly Ezra and a video not an easily faked photo. Mia clicked on the video to save it, Dom would never believe her without evidence, and cursed as the entire screen went black. She ended up having to reboot the computer but when she went back to her mail the email was gone. Mia made up her mind. Even without the evidence she would find a way to put a stop to anyone cheating on her brother.

Dom pinched himself to check that this was not some kind of impossible nightmare. "You're not serious, you can't be. Since Sunny was the one to terminate the contract we are already forbidden from living together, and I have to wait a month to even apply to renew the contract, all to ensure there is 'no undue pressure' and they don't care that this was all under duress by Sunny's own statements. Now you're telling me ..." "I'm telling you that it's a sign Dom. It was never meant to be. You have the opportunity now to start fresh to find someone, appropriate, someone who can give you a family." Dom was angry "I have a family. I have you, Brian, Sunny, Jack, even Chris and Vin and ..." 

"They're not family, not really and what about kids of your own? You always wanted one and you would be a good father." Mia was adamant. She could not prove what she knew but she could fix it so that conniving little cheat was gone and she would do anything she had to to accomplish it. "I'm serious Dom before, well everything happened so fast and you always dismissed my opinions anyway. You know it took us a while to warm up to each other in any case but he ultimately seemed a nice enough guy who made you really happy. However now we have the opportunity to correct the situation. To do the right thing." Dom looked at her and his scowl was mutinous. "No Mia, you'll just have to get used to it again." Mia winced she had hoped she would not have to go this far but... "No Dom you have to choose. It's either Brian and Jack and me or Ezra. It's not as if you love him. I thought about it and it is not right. So I decided, you can't have us both. I won't allow it." Mia felt bad about lying to Dom, pretending that she still thought his relationship with Ezra was wrong but she knew her brother would never listen to an argument about Ezra's character. She would not allow her ever faithful brother to be deceived by someone who could not be loyal to him. With no proof she would have to make her argument something he would know could not be challenged." I don't want my son growing up around this kind of immoral relationship. What you were doing was sinful. I'm not a monster you can go say goodbye but this is the end." Dom's response startled her "Come on Mia it can't be that big a deal to you. It's not as though I'm gay." Suddenly Mia felt a little bit of sympathy for Ezra. She had to concentrate on what was best for her brother but she allowed her honest annoyance at Dom's statement to enter her voice. "So what are you saying then? That you're just using him and that's less of a sin? That would be worse Dom and it's not true anyway. Whether you've faced it or not." She turned and walked back to her car ignoring Dom calling after her, she was not going to be swayed, this was the only way and it was the best thing for Dom.

Buck held Ezra as he cried and contemplated murdering one Dominic Toretto. That bastard was just lucky that Chris had not been here. He probably would have shot him on the spot. Ezra was the best thing that had ever happened to that ungrateful SOB. He understood how hard it would be for Dom to choose Ezra over Mia, and with Jack in the mix as well it was an impossible situation, but Jesus how was Ezra supposed to cope now, especially after what had almost happened. He didn't think Dom even understood how profoundly Ezra was his. Ezra didn't exactly welcome even gentle criticism, and he was generally wary of touch and yet he was always draped all over Dom and let him goddamn well correct him by spanking him like a child. He gave serious consideration to the idea of at least letting Chris beat the hell out of Dom, but Dom was a big guy and he couldn't be sure Chris would stop before one of them was seriously injured. Finally Ezra stopped. Then he looked at Buck. "Promise me something." Buck did not even have to think about it, "Anything." Ezra smiled through his tears, "Do not tell the rest of the team anything about this situation. They will just hate Dom and I do not want that to be the outcome. I will just tell them I cannot handle the concept of any kind of physical relationship at this point. Since that is even the truth they will certainly be inclined to believe my little deception." Buck did not think it would be that simple but at this point he would give Ezra anything he asked for. "Want me to set you up on a date later to throw them off?" Ezra shuddered "No, I am officially a toy remember. Do you really want the cops arresting someone for trying to kiss me?" Buck laughed "Would they really?" Ezra gave a sincere, if somewhat watery smile. "The cops are somewhat insanely overprotective towards unattached toys since they are officially their responsibility." Buck grew serious again. "Do you want me, or maybe Nathan or Josiah to talk to Mia. Maybe they could help her see that, well she's wrong." Ezra shook his head "Dom does not think it will do any good and, I do not want to get her mad at him. He is doing this for her. We should not do anything to jeopardize that." Buck sighed, "Well Ez, you need anything ever, you come to me."

Mia couldn't help thinking she might have made a mistake. Dom had even gone out on some dates with a little pushing, but, it was if the heart had gone out of him. He had not said anything to Brian, which had left Brian feeling that Ezra had been the one to dump Dom. Mia had thought that Brian would be livid with Ezra for that but he had just said that he could see that maybe Ezra needed some space after Saul. On hearing that she had pushed to find out what had gone on but Brian was no more inclined to discuss it than before. She had finally broken down and asked whether Ezra had been raped by the bastard but Brian answered with a short and final "No" and that was the end of the conversation. Finally she decided the only way to make Dom move on was to prove that Ezra had. It had been a month and if he had found someone while going out with Dom surely he would be involved with them or at least someone by now. She would swing by his work. She could tell that he had said nothing about her to his coworkers by the fact that even now Nathan and Rain would still occasionally babysit. She had not wanted to allow that, but could not figure out how to explain it to Brian without telling him what she had done. She had some time so she figured since it was lunchtime she would drive by Ezra's work and see what she could find out.

Ezra was puzzled by the request for "a member of team 7" from the lobby guard. The rest of the team was out at lunch. They still asked him every day to eat lunch with them, to have dinner, to go for drinks but he just could not. It was as if everything personal in his life was dead and he could not connect to anyone. He knew he was still doing his job as well as ever. He had asked Chris to be honest with him and Chris had indicated that his job performance was acceptable, aside from an increased tendency to take risks. He knew his inability to connect with his team was hurting them. He knew he would have to give up at some point, and stop coming to work, because he could not continue to do this to them. It should not hurt this much, especially since it had not been a personal rejection but Dom was a rare breed one he was not likely to find again and he was not sure that he was even willing to try. Then of course now any relationship he had would be limited by his status. He could not regret it since it had given him Dom however briefly but he was well aware of how complicated it would make things. He had tried briefly to make his team hate him out of anger and grief, but the experience with Saul had done that much for him, they had shrugged off every hateful word and refused to let him push them away. He walked over to the lobby desk and saw the one person he least wanted to see in all the world.

"To what do I owe the honor of your presence?" well Mia thought, that was certainly bitterly sarcastic but at least he was willing to talk. Mia had hoped to just hint around to whoever showed up and find out about Ezra's relationship but since it was him she might as well make her point directly. "Dom is not moving on as he should. I need you to show him you have. If you ever did care for him can you have whoever passes for your current boyfriend take you to dinner somewhere. Then I can show Dom you have moved on and you can both get on with your lives." Ezra's response to her request surprised her. She was prepared for angry rejection, or for him to tell her he would consider it. She was not prepared for him to laugh and object that he had no boyfriend. "But what about that guy you were with?" It slipped out before she thought. Ezra simply looked puzzled. "I hardly think Mr Toretto will believe I am engaged in a relationship with any of my teammates and I have not been around anyone else except criminals. I am hardly likely to begin dating one of the reprobates we arrest." Mia thought she was over the anger of his betrayal but apparently not "I'm talking about the bastard you were with when you were cheating on Dom." Suddenly Mia saw the dangerous man inside the pretty packaging. Ezra's whole demeanor made her step backwards, afraid. "I never cheated on Dominic. Did you tell him that as well, along with your damn ultimatum? I never thought you were a liar Mia." He turned and walked away before she could respond. She did not know what to say, he seemed incensed at the idea. The problem was, she had seen it with her own eyes. She knew from careful discussions with Nathan that Buck must know the truth. At least she assumed as much from Nathan's honest puzzlement about his sarcastic comments whenever her name was mentioned. She would talk to him.

Buck nearly slammed the door in Mia's face. He had never been anywhere close to hitting a woman in his life, but this one almost made him make an exception. "Please Buck, I need to find out something. You're the only one that knows what happened." Buck sighed and stepped away from the door. Then he listened as Mia told him everything that she knew and waited. Buck's response was unequivocal. "I don't care what you thought you saw, or how convincing you think it was. There is no way Ezra would have cheated on Dom. You only know how he was around Dom but normally, he's not like that. He doesn't trust like that. Only possibility I can think of is that maybe Dom wanted to see him with someone else. Ezra would hate it, but he would have done it for Dom. He would do anything for Dom." Mia paused, she had never considered such a possibility. Surely Dom would not want that, but then she would never have expected him to take up with a man either. As she was contemplating JD came in and to her consternation Buck immediately told him that she was suggesting that Ezra had cheated on Dom because she saw a video of him with another man. JD looked as indignant as Buck and then he paused. "Hold on, let me get something." He brought out his laptop and fiddled with something for a little and then showed her the screen. "Was this the man?" The video was grainier but it was the same man. "Yes, that's him. Why do you have video of him?" Another possibility struck her "Did Ray have to sleep with someone as part of an undercover operation?" JD looked as serious as she had ever seen him. "It's from when Ezra was almost raped. This is the guy that was going to assault him."

Mia had wanted to tell Ezra, to apologize to Ezra herself, but JD and Buck had both dissuaded her. She had pushed for a while but Buck had finally said "Look Mia, Chris will be around and you would not want to apologize in front of him since Chris does not even know Dom broke it off. It would be best to wait until Dom and Ez are back together before he finds out you were involved. He's the kind of guy who will find it easier to forgive you if it's obvious that you have done no long term damage. Besides you have problems of your own. I suspect Brian is going to go ballistic when he finds out what you did and why. So you might want to reduce the number of guys yelling at you." Mia had been surprised, "Brian will not be pleased, he liked Ezra but he will understand, how could I have known it was, not fake but well, nonconsensual." Buck and JD had exchanged glances and then for the first time Mia found out the details of what had happened with Saul and how Ezra had deliberately protected her husband and spared her brother that impossible choice. She felt sick over what she had done "Somewhere buried in the back of my mind I was afraid of something like that. I wasn't sure what Saul would have planned but I knew it would be bad and I was afraid Ray would do anything to protect Brian. Brian would have hated that more than anything. He would seriously have preferred to be raped himself, because to him, well it's not that he does not know that Ezra can take care of himself but just .." Buck said it softly "Ez, his relationship to Brian is like yours. He's not a girl but it's the same thing, it was Brian's responsibility to protect him. He's the kind of guy that would take that seriously."


	4. Reunion

JD was angry. He understood Buck's position, he too would have done anything Ezra asked. Ezra felt fragile to all of them. Some perverse part of him thought it would have almost been better if Ezra had actually been raped because then, not even Mia's threat would have removed Dom from Ezra's side. Then she might have told Dom why she was doing it and the whole situation would never have happened. Now though, he agreed with Buck. First they had to get Ezra and Dom back together and then they could tell the others what had been going on. When Buck had initially told him about the video somehow it was an intellectual problem to him. It was only after Mia left that it really hit, that Ezra was dead inside because of what she had done. The video must have been sent by Saul when he disappeared for those moments before he came back to try and assault Ezra. He was glad it was Mia who had to impart that particular joyous piece of news to Dom. He was sure that Dom would immediately try and find Ezra. He and Buck both agreed that Ezra's first instinct when Dom contacted him would be to run. They had discussed whether to just tell Ezra what had happened but Ezra was funny sometimes and he might just disappear from all their lives rather than allow himself to hope and then be disappointed. They would keep the information as a last resort. The thing was once Ezra knew Dom was trying to see him Buck was not sure that Ezra would listen to them or that they could prevent Ezra from leaving. He was pretty sure that Vin could prevent him physically but it would require fighting Ezra. That could result in one or both of them being hurt. Besides being something they wanted to avoid on principle, Dom would be likely to seriously hurt Vin if he came while something like that was happening. God forbid someone should hear the commotion and call the police. They had made it perfectly clear they would shoot anyone who should so much as touch a toy under their protection, and thanks to this mess that was currently Ezra's official status. What they needed was both Chris and Vin. For all his submission to Dom it was not natural behavior for Ezra and the only person he really listened to besides Dom was Chris. With the two of them they would have a chance, but that created another problem. Once Chris and Vin heard about the truth about Dom having left Ezra they were in Buck's words "Damn likely to shoot Dom" and neither Buck nor JD though he meant it figuratively. Finally JD said "Look we won't tell them why, we'll just take their guns away. They will do anything for Ezra same as us."

Ezra wondered what Buck wanted, and why he had to come to the CDC immediately. He owed his friends though, and especially Buck, so he went. The second he stepped in the door though he was wary, what were Chris and Vin doing here? Buck's comment "Don't worry I have not told them." did not settle his nerves in the least. Not least because now they knew there was something to tell. Before he could even begin berating Buck his phone rang with Dom's signature ring tone "You are my sunshine". He had not had the heart to change it and now he could not help feeling Buck's request had something to do with the phone call. Buck looked at him "If you have ever trusted me Ez, trust me now and answer that phone." He answered despite his misgivings "Dom" he could not make his voice sound welcoming. After Mia's little diatribe today he was waiting for Dom to call and ask about his so called cheating. "Where are you?" there was something in Dom's voice Ezra could not place, he was angry though, Ezra could readily tell that. "CDC" "Stay there, please stay there. I will be there as fast as I can. I talked to Mia she explained what happened God Ezra ..." Ezra had hung up. He looked at Buck as his phone rang continuously. "I'm not sure what the point of that was but I'll be leaving now. Dom is probably coming here, give him my best. I don't know what lies he heard from Mia, she asked me today whether I cheated on him. I'm not staying around to hear the same things from Dom. I can't do that not even for all of you." Ezra blocked out what Buck was jabbering on about but Vin was suddenly in his way and Chris was talking, somehow he never could block out Chris. "We promised Ezra, not to let you leave and no matter what you're not going anywhere." It was hard to argue with Chris and evade Vin both. As it got later he found himself beginning to seriously fight and his last hit had hurt Vin, maybe broken his wrist, and Chris, Chris was telling him to stop, to please stop, he couldn't make Chris beg and then it was all over because Dom was walking in the door.

"Sunny!" Dom felt as though he was meeting Ezra for the first time, it had been so long he had forgotten how beautiful he was and how very much Dom wanted him. Without thought he pulled Ezra into his arms and devoured him in a kiss. He felt Ezra melt into his arms but all too soon he was pushing at Dom. "No Dom, this is no longer possible for us. No matter how much I want it I will not be a party to restarting our relationship. Though you are more essential to me than air or life itself, I will not do this to you. I will not be the person who causes you to lose Mia and Jack and probably Brian as well." "You don't have to." Ezra stared as Mia came in behind Dom. He was even more surprised by the words that came tumbling forth "I guess Buck did not tell you. I was an idiot Ezra. Saul, he sent me a video of that devil assaulting you and I thought, what I was supposed to think, that it was a video of you having sex. The video self destructed and I knew Dom would never believe me without evidence. So I made up a concern about morality. I had stopped having that concern a long time ago when I saw how good you two are together. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. Even Brian is still angry with me but I only ask that some day you will consider it." Ezra looked at her and his smile lit up the room. "Consider yourself forgiven." then he spun on Vin and Chris "She is forgiven right?" Chris complained that he had only just found out the she had done something to be forgiven for but Ezra simply said "Please." that was more than Chris was able withstand. As Mia watched Dom settle on a couch pulling Ezra up into his lap she reflected that they fit together perfectly and she would never again do anything that might damage their relationship. She finally really looked at Ezra as Dom teased him about being too thin. She had been so preoccupied this morning she had not even noticed the weight loss, but it was severe. She wondered if he had really eaten at all the last couple months. When Ezra finally turned to her again she tried to match this man with the one she had seen this morning and found it almost impossible the animation level was so different. She could not help commenting "It's like you're a different person now." Ezra laughed but Vin simply said "He is." "So, what were you referring to before when you said Brian has not forgiven you?" Mia shrugged "Don't worry about it. It's not your responsibility to worry about when or how anyone forgives me." Ezra looked surprised, "Of course it is, we are family Mia, I thought you did not want me with Dominic but that did not stop me caring about you. You must remember what you explained to me, that first time I fought with Dominic. Family makes mistakes, but they don't stop loving each other, or taking care of each other. Now hold on and I will straighten that lunkhead out. He's doing that protective thing to me that always drives you mad and I will not stand for it any more than you would." 

Ezra was not kidding, he worked hard to make sure everyone forgave both Mia and Dom and preferably as fast as possible. Josiah was surprisingly easy, though Ezra suspected some punches had been thrown during his "private discussion with Dom". It would probably surprise outsiders but on the team Nathan was the one who had most wanted to refuse to forgive Mia. He took the breakup with Dom the hardest, maybe because he had been the first to stand up for the relationship. A close second had been Brian. Brian had found it very hard to get over what the video actually was given his guilty feelings about the circumstances. Finally at Ezra's suggestion JD and Mia had created a version of the video that showed what Mia had seen and then showed it to Brian. He had finally conceded that what was there was very damning without any knowledge of context and accepted some of the blame for not providing Mia with the background information she needed to be suspicious.


	5. Epilogue: A Wedding

Dom watched his family sitting at one of the tables eating and laughing. Mia had come over to settle after circulating for a bit with the rest of the guests. Jack was sitting on Mia's lap giggling with delight as Ezra played peek-a-boo with him. Brian of course was sitting next to Mia one hand holding hers while the other waved his fork as a counterpoint to some discussion he was having with Josiah. Nathan was arguing with Vin about the lack of vegetables on his plate while surreptitiously filling up Ezra's plate again. Buck was pursuing the bridesmaids single mindedly while JD was out on the dance floor with Casey. Chris was simply watching Ezra, he still did that a lot. Dom could not imagine how miserable he would have felt at this wedding, this celebration of family if his new family members had not been here too.

In some ways Dom and Ezra renewing their contract had raised similar emotions in Dom. There had been a very amusing argument between Chris and the Denver police chief over who exactly would sign Ezra's renewal contract as the witness. Chris could be very intimidating but the chief took his responsibility very seriously. Finally the council member had grabbed the contract and added another line for witness and they had both signed. Now Dom felt at peace with his life again. He was sorry that Ezra had been put through the pain of the separation, but for him the pain had been worth it. Before there had been some part of him that wondered about a wife and children. He had known it would be difficult if not impossible to have a wife now that he was committed to protect Ezra. Now that last feeling of question was gone. He knew from losing Ezra briefly just what a priceless treasure he had been given. Ezra would always be more important than some nameless, faceless ideal.


End file.
